


Deserve Better

by Takada_Saiko



Series: Fallen [21]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, all the feels, resurrected Wyatt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 12:09:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12189735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takada_Saiko/pseuds/Takada_Saiko
Summary: Wyatt Earp gets a first-hand experience at just how much his friend Robert has changed since he last knew him.





	Deserve Better

**Author's Note:**

> One of the reasons I haven't buckled down and written a multi chapter spec fic is that I have to many ideas. One of those is where Wyatt comes back and the team finds him. I was discussing part of that idea with someone and realized how well this little part would fit the prompt. So here we are. I don't intend to have a resurrected Wyatt in any future one-shots (maybe? You never know. An AU to a little series of one shots that will eventually be AU?).
> 
> Writing Prompt #76 "You deserve so much better"

 

**Deserve Better**

They'd found him locked away in what was little more than a dungeon. How long he has been there, Wyatt really couldn't say. It had been a blur of time. The one thing he was certain of was that it was Clootie's doing. He would never forget that demon's face.

Everything had happened so fast he had barely had time to process it. Three men had appeared at his cell door, one of which had been Doc Holliday. Wyatt had felt relief sweep through him as he pulled his old friend in. He was alive. How didn't matter. Not anymore. Not after everything.

The second man in - a deputy marshal by the name of Dolls he found out - had hurried Doc along in getting Wyatt free. The third spoke in a low, almost strained voice when he announced that they weren't alone and to get Wyatt out of there. He would meet up with them later. It hadn't been until they had gotten out that they had explained that their third was a Revenant himself. The other Revenants couldn't kill him even if they tried, so he was the one that got to buy them time. Wyatt never saw the Revenant's face and he didn't recognize the name that Doc called him by. Funny, he thought he remembered each of those that had been caught up in the curse.

Bobo Del Rey had kept tight control of most of the Revenants in Purgatory, so Wyatt learned. He had lost a lot of that when Clootie was resurrected, but he'd struck a deal with the current Heir and those still loyal to him were willing to help them put Clootie down in return for a free pass when all of this was over. Seemed like a fair enough deal. Or it would have been if they were still men and not demons.

And that was what had brought Wyatt Earp to this strange place with its high gates, guards armed with guns very different than the ones he was used to, and glowing red eyes side-eyeing him even as they let him in. He held his hands up as a sign of what he hoped was good faith. "I'm here to speak to Bobo Del Rey," he declared. He just needed to know for himself who this creature really was. He needed to make sure his great great granddaughter wasn't making a mistake that would cost her her life.

He made them nervous, that much was obvious. They wouldn't make eye contact with him and answered any questions he asked in short sentences. He finally caught one Revenant's eye, a thin smile quirking his lips at the way he shifted away when Wyatt called him by name.

Their mood seemed to change as another approached, and he looked about the right height for the Revenant that had been with Doc and Dolls earlier that day. Wyatt hadn't gotten a good look at his face, but he would now, and hopefully he'd have a better idea what to expect. There were half a dozen outlaws he'd come up with that might have changed his name and taken over, and none of those former men instilled any sense of trust in him.

"Wyatt Earp," that same deep voice from earlier greeted him as he approached. He was a sight with most of his hair shaved off his head except the strip of stark white hair, a single strip of black in it. He wore a heavy fur coat with buckles and straps, his shirt torn beneath it and his boots an odd style. Nothing like what Wyatt was accustomed to, but the world had certainly changed in the last ninety or so years.

It was those eyes that Wyatt recognized, and it felt like someone had dealt him a hard blow to the middle. He couldn't draw a reasonable breath in as he stared. "Robert," he managed with what remained of the air in his lungs and his friend stiffened a little at the name.

"Take a walk, boys," he instructed the Revenants around them.

"But he-"

"You think I don't know who he is? A man doesn't forget the one that killed him." Robert's voice was cold. Somehow those blue eyes were sharper when they weren't hidden behind his spectacles. "Plans haven't changed tonight. Get to work."

The Revenant Robert had directed the order to looked over to Wyatt. "You gonna have him take Carl over?"

Robert snorted. "Wyatt Earp? Wouldn't want him to dirty up that conscious of his. I said I'd do it myself. Nothin's changed." The expression he wore looking so foreign on his features. Everything looked… off. It left Wyatt feeling a little sick. Like a monster wore his friend's face. A demon.

The Revenants moved away to whatever business they were being sent on and Robert waited until they were out of earshot to turn back to meet Wyatt's eyes. "Let me guess, Holliday sent you here without telling you who I was, hoping you'd catch me in the middle of something you'd hate."

The words threw the gunslinger a moment. "I don't think that was his intention," he managed after a moment, but even he wouldn't have believed himself and it certainly didn't look like Robert did as he chuckled, flashing white teeth in a way that made him look strangely dangerous. He was, Wyatt reminded himself. He hadn't escaped the curse.

"Oh, I think you and I both know better than that," he murmured, something like amusement colouring his voice. "Hank gets his blows in where he can, and fighting for the same cause does limit him on the ones he can get away with these days."

Wyatt had always known that the two men wouldn't be close, but he'd hoped on some level they might be able to get past their differences. Apparently not.

He cleared his throat. "Well, at least I understand now why you were willing to side with Wynonna. I… I'd hoped that you might have escaped this curse-"

"Did you?" Robert tilted his head in question. "Because the good ol' padre got me a set of letters you left for me explaining everything. Sure as hell _looked_ like you knew I'd be caught in it."

Wyatt closed his eyes, gathering himself. Robert was angry with him. It wasn't like he'd _meant_ to wrap him up in this mess. He hadn't meant to get his friend killed. "I'd _hoped_ ," he repeated sternly. "I am sorry, Robert. Truly I am, but if this had to happen… at least we can face this together." He watched as Roberts expression melted from a sort of shock at his words to a laugh that chilled him to his core.

"Sure," he growled, the word harsh and biting as he turned.

Wyatt reached out, catching hold of the coat. "Robert, please. Nothing I can say can put this right, but we're both here now. What were you talking about earlier? Something that needed to be done."

He watched the man he'd once been close with close his eyes, a low snarl escaped him that was so very, very different than the Robert he'd known. He turned back though, his eyes flashing briefly red. "You wanna see what's happening here? Keep up."

Wyatt hesitated only a beat before following Robert's quick and determined pace through the collection of… homes? He wasn't sure, but he did see pairs of red eyes watching him as they moved, hell's own brand marking the scattered faces. He kept up with Robert until they made it to a circle and he saw those faces had followed them to the opening where a fire was building in the middle, a man chained there. He looked terrified and Wyatt looked to Robert for some sort of clarification as to what was happening.

"Don't interfere," was the only warning the naturally dark haired man growled as he took center stage.

The man chained near the fire started to whimper loudly. "I didn't have a choice, boss! Bulshar, he made me-"

Robert flashed forward with an unnatural speed, snapping the nearly weeping man up by the hair on top of his head and hauling him till he was standing. "You're not doing yourself any favours, Carl, calling _that_ name out here. You think he's going to save you? Protect you? No. You're expendable. That's why he sent you in. _I_ would have protected you, but you turned. I told you what would happen, didn't I? I warned you."

"Bobo, _please_ ," the Revenant - Carl - begged, but there was no mercy in those blue eyes.

"I warned you," Robert answered icily and straightened, eyeing the others. "Take this as yours. Clootie will be put into the ground permanently. He can't and won't save you. Not from me."

Wyatt watched as Robert reached down, unhooking part of the chain and the other Revenants murmured. "What will he do to him?" he asked the one closest to him and the demon blinked.

"Bobo warned us that if any switched to Clootie's side he'd haul 'im over the line himself."

"The line?"

"For the Triangle. Outside."

Then it clicked. They were stuck inside of it. "But he can't leave. None of you can."

"Without hell on earth, yeah."

That's why they'd asked if Wyatt was going to do it. He wasn't a Revenant. He wasn't bound to the Triangle like they were. "Won't that do the same to Ro- to Bobo?"

The Revenant shrugged. "Sure, but ain't nobody gonna cross him again. Not being willing to go that far."

Don't interfere. Now he understood, more than he might have been able to before. It had been nearly a century since Wyatt had passed away and the curse had truly begun. Robert hadn't had a choice in what happened, but there he was still fighting the fight. It was terrible and it was ugly, and it was impossible for someone to come out of that whole. The fact that he'd retained his loyalty in any shape at all spoke volumes. It was…. so very Robert, despite the changes.

The screams sounded in the distance they crossed the boundary. Wyatt could see the way the smoke was rising from both Revenants, but Robert remained stoic, fastening the chain and bending to speak directly in the prisoner's ear before starting back for the line.

No one moved to help him and somehow he was still on his feet. He swayed very slightly as he crossed back over, but kept right on going without a word, the screams of the one he'd left on the other side echoing. The other Revenants began to disperse, the show over, and Robert stalked in what looked like a particular direction.

Wyatt followed him to one of the tin homes that were scattered. "Robert?" he called softly.

"You wanna talk it'll need to be in here," Robert grumbled and Wyatt barely caught the door before it swung closed in his face.

He stepped in and _home_ was a very loose interpretation of the sparsely decorated space. If he lived there, it didn't look like he stayed there often. Robert moved to a cushioned bench and all but collapsed into it, his arm wrapped around his middle and his face screwed up in pain. "Shut the door and lock it," he managed and after a moment of looking Wyatt found the latch to do so. When he looked back over he saw Robert struggling out of his coat, patches of skin showing to be red and angry once his arms were free of it. He grunted as he pull something wrong.

"Hey, take it easy," Wyatt murmured, moving to help him, but he found himself startled to a stop as a snarl left his old friend, blue eyes shifting to red and the skin around it darkening. Interesting. No brand showed on his face like the others.

"What do you _want_ , Wyatt?"

The response died in the other man's throat. He wanted to help him, yes, but that really didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. He had done this. This was his fault, and that realization was becoming more real with each passing second.

Robert grimaced and leaned back. "Can't you save whatever judgement you have to deal out until I've healed?"

Wyatt cleared his throat. "I have… no room to judge you, Robert. I think you and I both know that. You wouldn't…." He paused, not accustomed to being at a loss for words. Best just to be honest. "I did this."

Blue eyes blinked, pained expression giving way to confusion. He sat up a little straighter and he turned his attention briefly to the marks on his arms before long fingers started working at his shirt, pulling it up to inspect what was being hidden by it. Angry, red burns that looked like they went a lot deeper than any burn should - almost like he'd been burned from the inside out - stretched across his torso. They ran below and all along his ribs and up above where his shirt still covered them, some lighter marks appear above his collar line. "I told you to take the shot," he said after a long moment, his voice still gruff, but much less defensive than it had been before.

"You didn't know what would happen."

There was a sigh and he reached up to massage the bridge of his nose, a habit that even Wyatt knew. "Neither did you."

Wyatt set his jaw. "Don't you hate me for it?"

"Oh yes," Robert drawled out.

Well, that stung more than he'd expected.

The Revenant loosed a long breath and eased the shirt back down, finally meeting his eyes. "And no. It's…." He shook his head.

"Complicated," Wyatt murmured.

"Yeah." He reached up and ran his hand along the strip of hair on top of his head, flattening it down a little. "I didn't mind dying for you, Wyatt. I was ready to ride to hell and back if that's what you needed, and I _have_. I…" He closer his eyes. "Just woulda been nice if I'd meant as much to you too."

He felt abandoned. That's what this was. "Every letter you wrote back said you were doing better." The argument felt hollow even to him.

Robert snorted. "I lied."

"Obviously."

"What was I supposed to say, Wyatt? Come sit with me as I die? By the time I'd pushed it too far…. It was too late all the way around."

There was a beat of silence between them and Wyatt took a seat across from his newly injured friend, their eyes meeting. "I am sorry. I'd have come back if I'd known. I never meant for you to be alone."

"You always did love John Henry," Robert murmured and he sounded like he was echoing the words from someone else.

"And you," Wyatt promised softly. "You were my dear friend, Robert. For me, that hasn't changed."

"I'm a demon."

"You're Robert Svane." Blue eyes flickered up and Wyatt sighed. "I ain't saying you're the same as you were then, but that doesn't change your core. You're a good man, Robert, always have been."

Robert gave a mirthless chuckle. "Death made you delusional."

"And it made you a bit more of an asshole than I remember," Wyatt answered with a smirk of his own. "Lost that damnably polite tone of yours along the way, didn't you?"

His old friend's expression eased just a little. "First thing to go." He shifted, the amusement fading. "We should head back into town."

Wyatt nodded and stood, offering Robert a hand up. He saw the way that he looked at it funny for just a moment, like he wasn't sure if he should take it or not. "You deserved better than all of this. So much better."

"Yeah," he said roughly, finally accepting the hand and letting Wyatt help pull him up to his feet. "But now we're gonna give Clootie exactly what he deserves."


End file.
